No, I tried them but prefer using the minimize buttons at the top of the pane.

A user in this thread - Disable-the-To-Do-Bar-permanently - had a question about the Normal and Reading buttons on Outlook 2010's status bar. I commented that he's probably the only person who actually uses those buttons. I'm using this poll to prove I'm right.

The buttons are actually quite handy if you frequently need to maximize the reading window as the button toggle the navigation pane and to-do bar (and minimize the ribbon) from open to minimized. These buttons are pre-programmed views - if you prefer working with the navigation pane minimized or the to-do bar off, you don't want to use these buttons as they toggle between minimized and normal (open).

Status Bar is located at the bottom of your screen which can helps to show so many useful options such as: Quota Information, Filter option, Items in view, Header items in view, unread items in view, reminders, view shortcuts, zoom slider etc. When we enable status bar from screen, personally I found status bar option user-friendly as it helps me in viewing various information in a quick mode.